Transportation - Home Base to Hong Kong

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Battle Information

We do not have specific battle information for this soldier in our online database. For a detailed description of the battle from a Canadian perspective, visit Canadian Participation in the Defense of Hong Kong (published by the Historical Section, Canadian Military Headquarters).

Wounded Information

Hospital Information

No record of hospital visits found.

POW Camps

Transport to Japan

Transportation SE Asia to Home

Came home on the USAT General Langfitt.

Post-war Photo



Gerry at 98. Photo taken in June 2016.

Other Military or Public Service

No other or additional related information found. Please submit documents to us using the contact link at the top of this page.

Death and Cemetery Information

Gravestone Image

Obituary / Life Story

September 16, 1917 to November 29, 2017 Gerry (Sunny) (Judd) passed away peacefully at the great age of 100. He was born into a large family in Mattawa, Ontario and was the son of Robert Sunstrum & Sophia Marnier. He served our country in WWII, and was a POW in Japan. After returning home from the war, he met his wife Doris (predeceased) and began their life in Niagara Falls. He was an active member of the Legion in Niagara and a member of The Lighthouse Church of God in Chippawa. He leaves behind his son Neil Bilbe (Joyce), his daughter Kolleen Parsons (Gerry), grandchildren Shawn Bilbe (Doug), Cheryl Bilbe (Bertrand), Georgia Parsons and Diana Parsons, as well as 6 great grandchildren, Elyse, Jonathan, Rebecca, Samantha, Gracie and Cayden.

A graveside service will be held at Fairview Cemetery, 4510 Stanley Ave., Niagara Falls on December 1st at 2:30.

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Related documentation

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General Comments

My Friend Gerry- A veteran of Canadas Hong Kong Force, known as Sunny to his army friends

When the war clouds were gathering over Canada in the late 1930s, my friend Gerry Sunstrum of Niagara Falls, Ontario was working at Lamaque Gold Mines near the Town of Val-dOr in Northwestern Quebec. This was not far from where he had been horn in 1917 in Mattawa, Ontario. When Gerry was just a few years old, the family relocated to Niagara Falls, where his father found work in construction. There was major activity there at that time in connection with the building of the Sir Adam Beck Generating Station and the related power canal. Eventually there were eight boys and two girls in the family. Five of Gerrys brothers served in the Canadian Forces in World War Il, and all survived. Today Gerry is the last survivor of this family.

I feel greatly privileged to have come to know Gerry in recent years through work as a volunteer for the Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association of Canada. l-le is one of only 70-some veterans still alive of the 1,975-man C Force. It was dispatched by the Canadian government in 1941 at the request of the British government to bolster the garrison at Hong Kong. Nearly one-third of them never returned. What follows is Gerrys story, as related to me recently in the comfort of his lovely home in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Once Gerry had completed his education in Niagara Falls, he found work in Northern Ontario with his brother, Nelson, a land surveyor. This was an active time in the development of Ontarios mining frontier. Gerry appeared to be in the right place at the right time. As has always been the case, however, mining had its ups and downs, and Gerry's jobs underground as mucker, then timberman, and eventually machineman weren't exactly glamorous for an ambitious young man. When opportunity for adventure in the military presented itself to Gerry and a couple of his friends, they responded to the call with enthusiasm.

This path lead Gerry to Toronto, where he enlisted in the Royal Regiment of Canada. It was not long until he received a call-up for service, reporting to a Training Center in Brantford for a two month program. When that was completed, he returned to Toronto, where a call had been issued for volunteers to join the Royal Rifles of Canada. This regiment had just been selected for overseas duty, and efforts were going ahead urgently to bring it up to strength. This was just the opportunity for active service that Gerry had been looking for. It came as quite a surprise, however, that the train he had boarded in Toronto was taking the regiment to the West.

Within just a few short days Rifleman Gerry Sunstrum and the whole Royal Rifles Regiment (along with the Winnipeg Grenadiers) had been boarded on the converted passenger ship Awatea in Vancouver, and were sailing out into the Pacific Ocean. it was several days later that the regiment was informed that it was going to Hong Kong. Unfortunately, no one from the senior command in Ottawa on down through the ranks, viewed their coming task as involving combat duty. Gerry's primary recollection of the voyage to Hong Kong is that the ship was very crowded and there was considerable dissatisfaction amongst the men.

As can be seen, Gerry's army training had been distinctly limited. He summarized it for me as comprising some basic training. . . marching. .. learning to present arms.. .shining shoes.. .but never firing a rifle. He was given some additional training while onboard ship, and following arrival in Hong Kong. In short order, however, 'C' Force found itself in a war zone, as a much larger force of battle-hardened Japanese troops invaded from mainland China. After eighteen days of valiant resistance, the 14,000-man garrison in Hong Kong had been overrun, sustaining heavy casualties. Those who survived had become prisoners of the Japanese, and would remain so, under brutal conditions, for almost four years. Liberation did not come until the end of the War in the Pacific in August 1945.

Following surrender of the Crown Colony by the Governor on Christmas Day 1941, Gerry and his fellow survivors were assembled at Stanley Fort on Hong Kong Island. From there they were marched to the camp at North Point. It had been constructed as a facility to house refugees from the war in mainland China. Gerry says it was not a very good camp, which I feel certain is an understatement. He describes his camp duties as Yard Boy. After nine months in this location the Canadian POWs were moved across the water to the mainland and settled in a camp called Shamshuipo , which Gerry describes as being better.. .more spacious. While there, he was part of the slave labour force that worked on the extension of Kai Tak Airport.

In 1943 Gerry was taken from Hong Kong to Japan in the first draft of 500 labourers, and assigned to 3D Camp. This was a brand new facility, located at Kawasaki, a suburb of Yokohama. According to Gerry, the first step taken by his captors was to assess the kind of work that each prisoner was most capable of doing. Having described his own skills as electrical, he was assigned to work in the electrical shop at a shipbuilding yard located a few miles outside the Camp. The workforce in this location consisted of Canadian POWs and Javanese. Here Gerry was a labourer, whose job was to move heavy reels of cable from the docks to the shipbuilding bays. He says it was hard, physical work, done on a meager diet, hut not particularly dangerous.

After a while spent in this location, Gerry was transferred in a group of ten Canadians to the Coalyard Camp, located a short distance away. Here he spent the balance of the war as a slave labourer given one day off a month. His fellow POWs were Canadian, British, American and Dutch. As stevedores, they loaded and unloaded barges and boxcars, and shoveled coal. They also handled a large tonnage of rice. This presented ample opportunity for the POWs to supplement their food supplies, with the result that they were much better fed than in 3D Camp.

Gerry had very limited contact with the outside world during his years as a POW. He received no mail whatsoever, sent out only one letter himself, and received only one Red Cross parcel. The Japanese held up mail for unreasonable lengths of time. Nine months passed before the Canadian government was able to begin sending official notification of prisoner lists to relatives. The lifeline for the prisoners in the Coalyard Camp was a clandestine radio, through which they received broadcasts from the BBC. Through this means they were able to learn of the progress of the war. Their spirits soared as the tide turned in favour of the Allies, and hope of rescue returned to them. Eventually they saw repeated flights of high-level reconnaissance planes over their area. While this raised their hopes, it also instilled an element of fear that they might be bombed, or, worse still, murdered by their captors instead of being released. Before their rescue some shrapnel did in fact hit the Coalyard Camp, but no bombs reached them directly.

The first indication that something was up was the sudden and quiet disappearance of the guards from the Camp. By that time the prisoners had marked a large POW in white material on the roof of their main building. It was no time until a small plane flew over the camp, dropping a supply of cigarettes. Joy reined supreme! Rescue was near at hand. Very soon larger planes were flying low overhead to drop supplies of clothing, boots, food, and medical supplies. The watchword for the moment was stay where you are for your own safety. As soon as it was clear that they could leave the camp safely, evacuation was begun through a canal, using army landing craft. Their destination was an American hospital ship at anchor a short distance away in Tokyo Bay. After being checked over by a medical team, the ex-POWs were put on board a British aircraft carrier, the Benevolent, in Tokyo Bay, for transport to the Philippines. Following a couple weeks rest there, the journey continued on an American troopship direct to Gordon Head Reception Centre on Vancouver Island. Here a warm welcome awaited them, as they began integration back into Canadian life.

The final leg of Gerrys repatriation was handled by troop train, returning him to Toronto, where he was met by two brothers and a sister. After a few weeks spent convalescing at Chorley Park, Christie Street 1-lospital, and in Malton, Ontario, he made his way home to Niagara Fails. For Gerry the war was over: and he could pick up his civilian life once again. His brother Nelson was back working as a surveyor for Ontario Hydro in Toronto, following his own military service. Gerry joined Ontario 1-lydro as an electrical construction worker assigned to station construction work at DeCew Fails generating plant, then under construction at St. Catharines, Ontario. He remained at Ontario Hydro until his retirement in 1982. During those years he worked on many construction projects throughout Southern Ontario, becoming Crew Foreman, and ultimately General Foreman.

Gerry was married for 58 years to the former Doris Hube, who he met during his convalescence in Toronto. Doris was a war widow, whose husband, a bomber pilot, lost his life over the North Sea. Today Gerrys son lives nearby in Fonthill, Ontario, and his daughter lives in Vancouver. He has been blessed with four grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Many fine books have been written about this little-known episode in Canadas annals of World War li. Most writers characterize the Hong Kong experience as a colossal tragedy. Brereton Greenhous, writing for the Canadian War Museum, calls it a Canadian tragedy. Pierre Berton has variously referred to the Battle of Hong Kong and its aftermath as a tragedy, a debacle, and a fiasco. Giving in to enormous public pressure, the government of Prime Minister Mackenzie King quickly authorized a commission of investigation.

Much has been written about the high rate of casualties suffered by C Force. Hundreds of men perished in the Battle of Hong Kong; hundreds more were wounded. Later many more died in the prison camps. During the desperate years of captivity the men suffered from malnourishment, disease, cold, severe weather, torture, beatings, and shortages of clothing, boots and medical supplies. Sergeant George MacDonell of the Royal Rifles has written "To me, Japanese cruelty could not be exaggerated. I personally witnessed their actual behaviour, and they were savage in the extreme."

Gerry developed malaria during the early months of his captivity in Hong Kong. During the Battle itself, a piece of metal had entered his arm, and he had received a wound on his leg. These, he says, healed up quickly. The ordeal of fighting the Battle of Hong Kong and being a captive of the Japanese for almost four years left scars in 'C' Force personnel that have lasted a lifetime. When I asked Gerry recently how he handled this part of his life he replied: 'After coming home I kept no souvenirs; washed my hands of it; and I think it helped me mentally'.

We are enormously thankful that Gerry Sunstrum survived this nightmarish experience relatively unscathed, and has lived a happy and healthy life into his early 90s. God bless him and all who served with him in Canada's 'C' Force. They are true Canadian Heroes.

Written and submitted with the family's approval by Gordon Coyne, Area Representative, West Central Area, Ontario HKVCA of Canada July 2010

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End of Report.

Report generated: 27 Apr 2025.